Nearly vs Close - What's the difference?
nearly | close |
*1603 , (John Florio), translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays , III.1:
*:And whosoever hath traced mee and nearely looked into my humours, Ile loose a good wager if hee confesse not that there is no rule in their schoole, could, a midde such crooked pathes and divers windings, square and report this naturall motion, and maintaine an apparance of liberty and licence so equall and inflexible […].
With close relation; intimately.
* (John Locke) (1632-1705)
* 1837 , The Dublin University Magazine
* 1847 , (Herman Melville), (Omoo)
Closely, in close proximity.
*c. 1606 , (William Shakespeare), Macbeth , First Folio 1623, IV.2:
*:I doubt some danger do's approach you neerely .
In close approximation; almost, virtually.
*{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
, chapter=1 *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author=Kevin Heng
, title=Why Does Nature Form Exoplanets Easily?
, volume=101, issue=3, page=184, magazine=(American Scientist)
(label) To remove a gap.
# To obstruct (an opening).
# To move so that an opening is closed.
#* (Lord Byron) (1788-1824)
#*
#*:If I close my eyes I can see Marie today as I saw her then. Round, rosy face, snub nose, dark hair piled up in a chignon.
# To make (e.g. a gap) smaller.
# To grapple; to engage in close combat.
#* (1796-1859)
(label) To finish, to terminate.
# To put an end to; to conclude; to complete; to finish; to consummate.
#* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
# To come to an end.
# (label) To make a sale.
# To make the final outs, usually three, of a game.
# To terminate an application, window, file or database connection, etc.
To come or gather around; to enclose; to encompass; to confine.
* Bible, (w) ii. 5
* (George Herbert) (1593-1633)
(label) To have a vector sum of 0; that is, to form a closed polygon.
An end or conclusion.
* Macaulay
The manner of shutting; the union of parts; junction.
* Chapman
A grapple in wrestling.
(music) The conclusion of a strain of music; cadence.
* Dryden
(music) A double bar marking the end.
Closed, shut.
* 1526 , William Tyndale, trans. Bible , Matthew chapter 8:
* Dryden
Narrow; confined.
* Charles Dickens
At a little distance; near.
* , chapter=7
, title= * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838, page=71, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Intimate; well-loved.
# (legal) Of a corporation or other business entity, closely held.
Oppressive; without motion or ventilation; causing a feeling of lassitude.
* Francis Bacon
Hot, humid, with no wind.
(linguistics, phonetics, of a vowel) Articulated with the tongue body relatively close to the hard palate.
Strictly confined; carefully guarded.
(obsolete) Out of the way of observation; secluded; secret; hidden.
* Bible, 1 Chron. xii. 1
* Spenser
Nearly equal; almost evenly balanced.
Short.
(archaic) Dense; solid; compact.
* John Locke
(archaic) Concise; to the point.
* Dryden
(dated) Difficult to obtain.
(dated) Parsimonious; stingy.
* Hawthorne
Adhering strictly to a standard or original; exact.
Accurate; careful; precise; also, attentive; undeviating; strict.
An enclosed field.
(British) A street that ends in a dead end.
(Scotland) A very narrow alley between two buildings, often overhung by one of the buildings above the ground floor.
(Scotland) The common staircase in a tenement.
A cathedral close.
* Macaulay
(legal) The interest which one may have in a piece of ground, even though it is not enclosed.
As an adverb nearly
is {{cx|now|_|rare}} With great scrutiny; carefully.As a verb close is
to remove a gap.As a noun close is
an end or conclusion.As an adjective close is
closed, shut.nearly
English
Adverb
(en-adv)- Let that which he learns next be nearly conjoined with what he knows already.
- She could have joined most comfortably in all their supposings, and suspicions, and doubts, and prognostications, but the honour of the family was too nearly concerned to allow free reins to her tongue.
- [H]e was also accounted a man of wealth, and was nearly related to a high chief.
citation, passage=She was like a Beardsley Salome , he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry.}}
citation, passage=In the past two years, NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has located nearly 3,000 exoplanet candidates ranging from sub-Earth-sized minions to gas giants that dwarf our own Jupiter.}}
Synonyms
* almost, nigh, well-nigh, near, close to, next to, practically, virtuallyclose
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) .Verb
(clos)- What deep wounds ever closed without a scar?
- They boldly closed in a hand-to-hand contest.
- One frugal supper did our studies close .
- The depth closed me round about.
- But now Thou dost Thyself immure and close / In some one corner of a feeble heart; / Where yet both Sinne and Satan, Thy old foes, / Do pinch and straiten Thee, and use much art / To gain Thy thirds' and little part.
Synonyms
* close off, close up, cover, shut, shut off * shut * (put an end to) end, finish, terminate, wind up, close down * narrow * (terminate a computer program) close out, exitAntonyms
* open * open * (put an end to) begin, commence, initiate, start * extend, widen * (terminate a computer program) open, startDerived terms
* autoclosing * case closed * close down * close in * close off * close one's eyes * close out * close ranks * close the door on * close the face * close up *Noun
(en noun)- We owe them our thanks for bringing the project to a successful close .
- His long and troubled life was drawing to a close .
- The doors of plank were; their close exquisite.
- (Francis Bacon)
- At every close she made, the attending throng / Replied, and bore the burden of the song.
Synonyms
* (end) end, finaleAntonyms
* (end) beginning, startEtymology 2
From (etyl) clos, from (etyl) clausum, participle of (m).Adjective
(er)- There is nothinge so close , that shall not be openned, and nothinge so hyd that shall not be knowen.
- From a close bower this dainty music flowed.
- a close''' alley; '''close quarters
- a close prison
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=[…] St.?Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close -packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.}}
End of the peer show, passage=Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close . This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.}}
- If the rooms be low-roofed, or full of windows and doors, the one maketh the air close , and the other maketh it exceeding unequal.
- a close prisoner
- He yet kept himself close because of Saul.
- her close intent
- a close contest
- to cut grass or hair close
- The golden globe being put into a press, the water made itself way through the pores of that very close metal.
- close reasoning
- Where the original is close no version can reach it in the same compass.
- Money is close .
- (Bartlett)
- a crusty old fellow, as close as a vice
- a close translation
- (John Locke)
- The patient was kept under close observation.
Synonyms
* (at a little distance) close by, near, nearby * (intimate) intimate * muggy, oppressive * (articulated with the tongue body relatively close to the hard palate) highAntonyms
* (at a little distance) distant, far, far away, far off, remote * (intimate) aloof, cool, distant * (articulated with the tongue body relatively close to the hard palate) openDerived terms
* close call * closely * closeness * close shave * close-up * thiscloseNoun
(en noun)- closes surrounded by the venerable abodes of deans and canons.
- (Bouvier)